It’s not to say that the press is malicious or ill-intentioned, but by necessity they can’t be experts at
everything. Sometimes they get it wrong because they don’t understand the nuances of an analysis (especially
anything related to technology, science or engineering); sometimes, while trying to provide a succinct summary for
the reader, the press reports misrepresent the facts.

We need the press, but please remember that the words you read on the printed page of a newspaper or
on the webpage of a media company is not necessarily the final work.

Catalin Grigoras, a forensic examiner from Bucharest, told the workshop how he uses the
frequency signatures of local electrical power sources to pinpoint when and where
recordings were made. According to Grigoras, digital recorders that are plugged
into electrical sockets capture the frequency signature of the local power supply —
a signature that varies over time.

The article goes on to explain that even battery-powered recorders have a “signature” if the
mics used are electrics. Interesting.